Funding an international education is
always difficult. In addition to tuition and living
expenses, you have the added expense and difficulty of
being far from home. If you are coming to the USA as an
international student, you are not eligible for
government-backed loans, scholarships are hard to come
by, and the cost of living can be quite high compared to
many other countries. This month we feature a unique
work-study program that can help international students
afford to study in the USA by working part-time
immediately upon their arrival.

On another note, don't miss the item
below about our new social media efforts in China.

Earning money while you study can help
tremendously for an international student trying to pay
for college in the USA, but it can be difficult to do.
HTIR offers unique work-study programs at several
colleges and universities in the USA. Unlike other
work-study programs that require international students
to wait one year before they can legally work, HTIR’s
work-study program allows students to earn money to pay
for their education immediately.

In addition to earning money, the
experience you gain from working while in school is
invaluable and critical to future employers. While
gaining valuable work experience, students will work
towards and can complete a masters degree from an
accredited school. Find out more information and start your application online
today!

Hobsons Virtual Student Fairs offer
students around the world the opportunity to obtain
information, advice and services online, directly from
school representatives, without the need to leave your
home or your computer! The next virtual student fair is
from students from any country in Asia.

Some of the features the Asian student
fairs offer include:

Talk live with admissions
representatives from 30 U.S. colleges and
universities!

Live chat or video chat with
international students like you who are already on
campus.

Watch student video webcasts and
download them.

Be eligible to win USD 3,000 in
scholarships!

To learn more and register please visit
the
virtual fair page today! The next
event for Asia is on the 31st of March 2012.

If you are looking for mobile
information about studying in the USA, we have
developed a dedicated iPhone app that allows you to view
our most important content right in the palm of your
hand. The iPhone app from InternationalStudent.com is
free, and available now in the iTunes store for download
and will give you access to our state guide for the USA,
our study USA guide containing information and advice
for students and even access to our ever popular
concierge service, allowing students to be contacted
directly by schools in the USA.

The world of financial aid can be daunting for
international students. Many students have seen the
continual rise of tuition even after they are enrolled!
In the United States, tuition had an average increase of
8.3% for public universities and 8.7% for community
colleges, so it’s no wonder why international students
have financial aid on their minds.

Students looking for help will find our most recent International
Financial Aid Blog post informative as it discusses
the primary funding options available including
scholarships, grants, and loans. We discuss the pros and
cons, how to apply, and where to get started. Post your
questions on our comments section for immediate help
bringing you one step closer to an affordable education!

This month we have a post from the study
in the USA section of our international student forums
from a member asking about credit transfer and selecting
the right major:

"Hi everyone...I have been living
in the US and thinking about going to college. I
obtained in my home country MS in management and
production engineering. Can you guys please help me
to find the best matching major to the one I majored
in? I would like to also transfer my credits but do
not know how does it work?. When will I know how
many credits will be transfer? After applying to
college on particular major I want to obtain BA
degree in the US so do y'all think will my MS degree
be better accepted by school? Greatly appreciate any
advice..."

If you would like to add a response, or
help this international student, please visit our forums and post a
response to help them out!

If you haven't visited Khan Academy,
you need to. With three degrees from MIT and an MBA from
Harvard, Salman Khan knows something about education.
Turns out, he knows something about just about
everything. What started simply as an effort to tutor
his cousin over the internet in 2004, by 2009 led Mr.
Khan to quit his job running a hedge fund to focus
full-time on his online academy. Whether you want to
learn about arithmetic, physics, finance, history or the
recent housing bubble and economic collapse, the Khan
Academy has something for everyone. With over 3,000
videos covering almost any topic you can imagine, each
structured in an interesting, digestable, short format,
the Khan Academy has done more to further online
education than any other single website. And its all
free!

Over the last few months, we have been
working hard on our outreach to students from all around
the world through various channels. We are very active
on Twitter and Facebook, with over 7,000 Facebook fans
and over 5,000 Twitter followers - and these are growing
by the day.

Since there is no access to Facebook and
Twitter in China, and there are a huge number of Chinese
students planning to study internationally, we really
wanted to focus on becoming more available to students
from China. So in January this year, we officially
launched our RenRen and Weibo pages for international
students who are in China. If you are an international
student already abroad, please join us and help spread
the word about our organization - or let your friends
back home in China know about us!

We hope you enjoyed this month's
newsletter, and best of luck to you as you pursue or
help others pursue an international education! As always
please contact us with any
questions or comments you have about the newsletter -
we'd love to hear from you!